Often, while researching articles, I come across delicious little snippets of information that I can pass on to you.
I was looking at Richard Peacock today, and while investigating how he signed for Lincoln, I discovered that we were once snubbed by non other than former Peterborough United boss, Darren Ferguson.
Ferguson is something of a panto villain amongst City fans, not for any real reason. He’s just generally viewed as a bit of a bad guy, in the same way that we’re always the goodies, and he’s in charge of the baddies. It’s pure cinema, storytelling from a single perspective, but it’s what football is all about.
In January 1999, it could have been very different. Around the time we were hoping to sign Peacock, we also wanted Darren Ferguson.
He was one of two Wovles players John Reames invited to the Bank on trial. The other was a 22-year-old attacker called Dominic Foley. Ferguson turned down the chance to come to City, having previously been with Manchester United, and decided to fight for his place in the Wolves team.
He didn’t get it back. He moved to Sparta Rotterdam, appearing 14 times before coming back to the UK with Wrexham, where he won Division Two and the Football League Trophy.
Foley did come to City, appearing in a reserves game against Huddersfield that we lost 2-1. A deal couldn’t be struck and he joined Ethnikos Piraeus on loan for the rest of the season a couple of weeks later.
His career was fairly interesting after that. Graham Taylor signed him for Watford and he even appeared in the Premier League, as well as earning a cap for Ireland. He later played for Braga, Bohemians, Gent and Cercle Brugge, and was the subject of controversy in two of those deals.
In 2005, he left Bohemians after a dispute over unpaid bonuses before joining Gent, the two sides having met in Europe just weeks before. In 2009, Gent accused Cercle Brugge of approaching him early, and after tensions between the clubs, he completed an immediate move during the winter window.
Neither played for the Imps first team, but both serve as another one of those interesting little footnotes that i perhaps find more fascinating than most.
You must be logged in to post a comment.